AN: Hi Everyone! It's been 2 years since I updated this story. Sorry! I enjoy writing but don't really have the time. Hopefully these holidays I'll finish this story. Thanks to everyone for their continued support!

The next morning Naruto stood beside Sasuke outside the gate to the Forrest of Death and casually stretched. Looking around he surveyed the ninja who had passed the first section of the exam. Only about half of the initial group remained and of those at least another half would not pass the survival test. The first section of the exam had passed without incident for Naruto and Sasuke. Expecting a twist they had all but ignored the written test, instead taking to observing their opponents and idly day dreaming. Thinking back to the twist of the exam Naruto couldn't help but smile:

"In front of you all is a written exam paper," Neji began in an emotionless voice. "You have 1 hour to complete it. You require a minimum score of 75% to pass. Should you fail you will not be able to ever participate in the chuunin exams again. At any point you may choose to leave the exam and you will be allowed to participate again next exam. However, should you choose to leave, all members of your team will fail and will have to leave with you. Should you be caught cheating you and all your team members will be banned from ever sitting the chuunin exams again. If there are no questions you may begin."

"Byakugan!" Neji declared as he finished his instructions. The Konoha bloodline was famous throughout the shinobi lands. The students knew they would not be able to avoid the eyes of the Huyga.

Minutes ticked passed and already a quarter of the students had caved into the pressure and been escorted out of the exam room when Neji piped up once again. "A new rule has been introduced." Astonished gasps came from the startled gennin.

"You're changing the rules halfway through the exam! That's not fair," a particularly brave Ninja from the stone exclaimed.

Neji immediately levelled his pupil-less eyes onto the young ninja, effectively quelling his outburst as the upstart suddenly felt all his earlier confidence leave him.

"Hinata, please remove our courageous and stupid friend from the exam." Neji calmly stated, watching while he was removed from the room. "Any other objections?"

Deathly silence.

"Good. You now have half the initial time to complete the exam." Neji finished.

The students had wide eyes of shock, and many were on the verge of protesting, but after seeing the fate of the earlier, unlucky ninja they thought better of it.

Time flowed like honey for the remaining exam participants, each second being a nail-biting decision of whether to stay or go as all around them more and more students were leaving.

With little more than half of the initial ninja remaining, Neji once again stepped forward.

"Five minutes of the written exam remain," Neji's emotionless voice punctuated the silence of the exam room. "And a new rule has been introduced. If you fail the exam all of your fellow teammates will also fail and will not be able to sit the exam again. Also, if you believe that any member of your team will not pass you may now submit their names to the examiners. Doing so will remove your teammate from the exam but may allow you to pass."

At this moment Naruto's eyes locked with Sasuke's. A mutual thought ran through their heads, 'So that's the trick. Cruel.' A smile twisted up on both their lips. Kakashi had always told team 7 'Those who broke the rules were trash, but those who abandoned their teammates we're worse than trash.' It was a lesson Naruto knew well and lived by. Sasuke too knew the lesson - but he had ignored it and fallen into a darkness which he now shuddered to remember. It was only when his teammate, his friend, never abandoned him and brought him home that he could feel alive again. Even in that damp dark cell.

You never sold out on your teammates and friends - Naruto and Sasuke would die by those words - and any ninja who didn't depend on and trust their teammates didn't deserve to be a chuunin.

A stressful minute went past before the first hand rose up.
"I would like to remove Ken, my teammate from the stone, from the exam," a blonde girl no older than 13 said a little shakily.

"Very well," Neji resonated. Hinata please remove Ken-san from the exam.

Hinata eyed out a pail, skinny young ninja who didn't fit his occupation at all. There was almost relief on the boy's face as he was escorted out. In the proceeding minutes several more shinobi put up their hands. Some of the betrayed shinobi went out quietly while others yelled insults at their fellow team members. Naruto agreed that they ought to be mad about the betrayal!

Regardless - the exam finished and exam papers were collected.
Neji came up to the front of the room and announced: "Those of you who do not have a full team, except for the 2 ninja who have already been excused - please leave the room."

There were wide eyed stares as those who had removed teammates slowly got out of the seats and left the room. Once the last prospective chuunin had left the room Neji grabbed the stack of exam papers and ripped them in half, half-smiling at the young - slack jawed ninja in front of him.
"Congratulations, you all pass the first stage of the chuunin exams. The exam was merely to test you're decision making capabilities and the allegiance to your team under times of stress. All of you trusted your teams and they trusted you to perform. Well done. The next stage of the exam will commence bright and early at 8am tomorrow morning at the entrance of the Forrest of Death. Do not be late."

And with that he strode purposefully out of the room, leaving the younger ninja to slowly flow out of the room in states of shock. The older more experienced ninja who had taken the test before we're merely bored and preparing for the much tougher test the morning would bring.

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts as a feminine voice echoed loudly above the cacophony of insect chirps that was morning around the Forrest of Death.

"Attention please," Sakura began.
"You will soon be commencing the second part of your exams. A survival challenge within the Forrest of Death! Inside you will find hideous creatures, traps and your fellow candidates."
Murmurs of anticipation and fear ran through the crowd.
"You must survive all these challenges. In addition each team will be given a scroll, one of either fire or water. You must bring both scrolls to the temple in the centre of the Forrest to pass this test by taking the required scroll from other teams while defending your own. As you can no doubt conclude, at least half of the teams will lose their scrolls and will fail. There will also be 3 wandering Jonnin within the Forrest who will try and take your scrolls. If you defeat one you may take any scrolls they have in their possession. If there are no questions the exam will begin in 15 minutes. Each team has been assigned a separate entrance to the Forrest. You have a maximum time limit of 3 days - good luck!" Sakura concluded.

"Jonnin?!" Sasuke heard one of his fellow candidates exclaim. "There's never been Jonnin in the survival challenge before! If we bump into one of them we're screwed - even against our whole team."

Sasuke tried to suppress a chuckle. This was going to be so easy it was unfair. 'Jonnin?' he thought. 'The only ninja in the village who could give me a good fight would be Naruto. I've long since surpassed even Kakashi.' There was almost sadness to the thought, the melancholy of stagnation, rather than the arrogance one would have expected from the old Sasuke. Now the only thing he truly looked forward to was his fight with Naruto that he knew would be a certainty before the exams concluded.

"Teams, assemble at your allocated gates!" Ino commanded as the teams filled off.
"Naruto, Sasuke. You'll be starting here at gate 1. thought it would have a nice prophetic ring to it," she winked.
"Also we don't have enough gates for both you to have your own entrance. Here are your scrolls, they're fire types," she said as she handed them both a small bound scroll with red boarders. "Also, please don't go around killing or permanently maiming any of the other kids," she eyed Sasuke who only snorted in response. "It wouldn't reflect well on Konoha to have deaths twice in a row." Ino finished in almost a whisper and Naruto understood. He would soon be leading this village - he had to keep Konoha's name strong and proud and he knew Sasuke would do anything necessary to support him.

Around them the young ninja had darted off to their respective starting positions while Naruto and Sasuke stood dwarfed by the huge wall which encompassed the Forrest. The gate was a tall wooden door with large, iron ring handles. It stood imposingly for the majority of students and most were apprehensive of what horrors needs to be contained by the huge wall and ridiculous gates.
Naruto and Sasuke sauntered up to their gate totally unfazed. Defeating legendary, reincarnated ninja tends to make a few oversized spiders significantly less terrifying. Naruto had his hands behind his head as he waited outside patiently.

Suddenly a crisp horn punctuate the air and shocked all of those around to hear it. A moment later each of the massive gates had black Kanji characters appear on the aged wood. The seal was undone and the gates swung slowly inwards, pulled by some unseen force. They screeched as they strained against their rusty hinges which were designed to keep the horrors trapped within.

At the other gates young ninja immediately sped off into the trees. Some casting genjutsu to hide their trails, while others set up traps behind them.

Naruto and Sasuke simply strolled into the Forrest casually. No elaborate traps or schemes. They were both at Kage level and experienced enough to know when they were being followed and there was no genjutsu which could fool Sasuke's sharingan. They could see the pointed roof of the temple peering out from behind the trees and decided that making their way towards it would be the best idea. Given the reaction of the crowd of gennin previously, someone would probably seek them out on the way there, thinking them easy pickings. Otherwise they could just wait by the temple and take the scrolls of the first unlucky teams to arrive.

Sasuke had decided to keep his scroll in plain sight hanging off of a little cord on his Katana under the hope that a team of the opposing scroll type would conveniently come after them.

After a short stroll Sasuke cleared his throat and Naruto simply nodded. They both new that there was a team of 3 ninja ahead of them. Two boys were waiting at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions and there was a third girl significantly closer no doubt waiting to spring a trap. They seemed relatively skilled; most gennin would not have been able to detect them.

The pair continued to walk on as if oblivious and eventually came across the girl.

Something didn't seem right. She stood there shaking with terrified, wide eyes and her arms wrapped around her.

Naruto couldn't help it. He knew it was probably a trap but his instinct to protect was too strong and he immediately rushed up to her.
"What's wrong?" He exclaimed.

"My team has disappeared," she replies shakily. "We were attacked by a Giant Spider and we got separated. I don't know what to do." she finished. Naruto immediately piped up.

"Don't worry. You can hang around with us, Right Sasuke?" he continued without waiting for an answer. "We'll protect you until you find your team!" Naruto grinned and gave her the thumbs up.

Up ahead in the trees a boy of 13 tried to suppress a laugh. "That stupid Blonde thinks he needs to look after Miri?" he chuckled in a way that was far too mature for his face. Or maybe it wasn't. On closer inspection you could see his boyish features were marred by steely cold eyes that seemed to be permanently calculating. Most strikingly he had a jagged scar that ran vertically from his forehead down to below his left eye which was partially hidden behind messy blonde hair - a constant reminder of his tough past and his resolution to win.

He glanced at his partner who was in a tree to his right 10 yards away. He held up his fingers to his lips in a c-shape and waited for the signal. His partner was tying off a few a steel wires before he looked up and nodded.

The shriek of a whistle echoed through the Forrest and birds immediately left their perches. At the same instant Miri's eyes hardened and her lips twisted into a wicked smile as she jumped away from the two boys throwing a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it at the spot she was previously standing.

'Now which way will you run', she thought. 'Behind, you'll enter the trap; above, my team will get you and if you don't move you'll be caught in the explosion.' Miri was confident.

The whistle caused the battle hardened Naruto and Sasuke to react instantly as well. Naruto went up and Sasuke went back before the kunai had even impacted the ground.

In one smooth motion Sasuke effortlessly drew his sword while jumping back. He had long since known about the wire trap at his ankle level and nimbly jumped over it. His eyes flashed red as his sharingan activated momentarily and he saw the second wire which was placed just above head height designed to trigger if the first wire was avoided. Sasuke immediately swung his sword towards the wire, the blade hot with electric sparks. The chakra enhanced blade cut through the hardened steel wire as if it were spider's silk, not providing enough tension to set off the explosive tag it was attached to before he gracefully landed on his feet after completing a perfect backflip. He looked ahead of him, completely unfazed.

Meanwhile Naruto had jumped into the trees and drawn his kunai, crossing blades with the scarred blond.
Punch, block, kick, parry. Sparks showered the two boys as they battled together, the intense speed causing their images to blur into a mess of yellow, orange and black. Naruto soon gained the upper hand however; strength, experience and skill all in his favour. The younger blonde couldn't believe it - he was losing a one on one battle with a gennin? And a supposedly weak one at that!
As this thought was running through his head he felt his kunai hand being overpowered and flung to the side as a rough kick connected with his rib cage and sent him flying off into the trees. Shit – he couldn't let his team down! In a last ditch attempt he flung his kunai towards the stupid (but strong, he conceded) blonde in front of him. He was out of options and knew that the last minute attack would be dodged or blocked by even the weakest of gennin.

But it wasn't. As he flew through the air in slow motion he saw the blade flying straight and true to its mark, only to see Naruto's face twist up in a faint smile, before the blade buried itself deep into his chest.

Poof! His enemy vanished in a puff of smoke. What? A solid clone? How was that even possible – was it a genjutsu? These were the last thoughts that went through the scarred blondes mind before he impacted into a tree with a sickening crack.

The real Naruto appeared behind the blondes other male teammate, and before he had even turned around Naruto had incapacitated the gennin with a swift blow to the temple, causing his legs to give way as he succumbed to unconsciousness. Catching the boy before he fell to the ground, Naruto hoisted him up onto his shoulders before walking over to the now unconscious blonde and perching him on the other shoulder. Jumping down from the branches he landed next to Sasuke and placed the boys next to their squirming teammate who Sasuke had already overpowered and tied up.

"They were pretty good for gennin," Naruto said to no one in particular. "I bet they'll make it into the finals."

"Hn." Sasuke agreed. "So what scroll did they have?"

"Fire type unfortunately, it was in the blonde one's pocket. I didn't actually mean to knock him out, but he was better than I expected," Naruto replied. Addressing the girl in front of him he tossed the retrieved scroll at her feet. "Those two should wake up soon, and they'll untie you." Naruto shot her a luminous grin, "You guys did pretty well. I'm sure you would have defeated most teams. We'll see you in the finals." Naruto winked.

"We should keep moving," Sasuke interrupted. "I want to get this over and done with." He finished, before he started walking away into the darkness of the Forrest.

"Hai! Hai!" Naruto responded as he jogged casually after his childhood rival.

Back at the clearing Miri's two teammates had woken up and untied her. All three were shocked that there plan hadn't worked and that they were soundly defeated. "I don't understand why they returned our scroll? Wouldn't they take everything to try and get us kicked out? It doesn't make sense!" Miri exclaimed. "And weren't they supposed to be the weakest ninja whose teammates had all been promoted? What do you think Kentarou?"

The scarred blonde didn't have a definite answer. "He defeated me easily in hand-to-hand combat, and it wasn't even really him. It was some type of clone! There's definitely something wrong here. If I'd met them outside of the exam's I would definitely thought they were Jonin. Maybe they were put in the exam as an added test?"

"I agree," their teammate, Sosuke, replied. "The one with the katana cut the trap lines with Raiton chakra channelled in his blade. That is most definitely not a gennin skill. And my attacker moved too fast for me to even react. I've never been so outclassed – not even by chuunin back home in Kiri".

"We'll have to be wary of them," Kentarou agreed. "We don't know why they've shown us this kindness and not taken our scroll, but let's make sure we make it to the finals."
The gennin team nodded together in determination, before speeding off in the opposite direction to their attackers, not wanting to bump into them again.

Fast approaching the central temple Naruto and Sasuke jumped from branch to branch setting a demanding pace. "We're almost there," Naruto commented. "Looks like we'll have to wait by the entrance to get out scro…." Naruto immediately cut-off and jumped to the ground as the branch he was on exploded.

Landing next Sasuke, whose Sharingan was blazing they looked up into the tree line. "Looks like we have some interesting company," Sasuke drawled.

On the branch he was staring at three Konoha ninja suddenly sushined into view in a swirl of leaves. In front of the two childhood friends stood Mitarashi Anko, Kakashi Hatake and Captain Yamato. Three of the Leaf's most capable Jonnin.

"Hi there brats!" Anko smiled evilly. "None of the other teams have made it this far, and we couldn't have you make it to the temple in a few hours, now could we? So we thought we'd come have a little fun!"

"Now, now Anko-san. Is that really any way to address your future commander?" Naruto jibed as Anko scowled.

"Heh, so the rumors are true? Well Konoha can't have a weak leader – so we better test you out," Anko yelled back defiantly. "I bet I could wipe that grin off your face you over-sized gennin!"

"Yes. Naruto, Sasuke. Show us how much you've grown", Kakashi interjected as he settled into his battle stance.